Market Share Report: Cameron Meredith Isn't Going Away

Target Market Shares

1. Cameron Meredith Isn't Going Away

It finally happened. On Sunday, the Chicago Bears targeted Alshon Jeffery 13 times, nearly doubling his previous high for the season. The breakout that Jeffery owners had been waiting for came, and all was right with the world.

He still didn't lead the team in targets.

Instead, that honor belonged to Cameron Meredith, who caught 11 of 15 targets for 113 yards. Meredith now has 27 targets in the two games after Kevin White's injury, and he has churned out 100 yards in both. This dude's legit.

Even in a game when Jeffery wasn't facing a top corner or being ignored by Brian Hoyer, Meredith was a major factor. This eliminates the one concern you could have had about Meredith after his big performance in Week 5. If you haven't bought into Meredith yet, it's time to fix that before it's too late.

2. Marvin Jones' Usage Is Becoming a Concern

It appears as if defenses have realized they may want to cover Marvin Jones. After the first few games, it seemed this day would never come.

Even though Jones found the end zone Sunday, he had just six targets, lagging well behind Golden Tate's team-leading 10. This would be fine for Jones if it were just one week, but it actually draws out a longer, more concerning trend.

Over the past three weeks, Jones' target market share is down to 20.0% after sitting at 25.0% prior to that. He's third on the team in targets over that span, falling behind both Tate and Anquan Boldin, though all three are within three targets of each other.

This means that Jones isn't the target monster we thought he had the potential to be earlier in the season. Instead, the Detroit Lions' target shares may be hard to predict on a week-to-week basis in a similar fashion to what we have with the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers. Jones is still a tremendous talent, but his usage may be lower than his perception, necessitating a bit of divestment in both season-long and DFS.

3. The 49ers' Passing Distribution May Be Changing

With the change to a quarterback who doesn't hate yardage comes a change in how a team distributes the football. That's what the San Francisco 49ers witnessed on Sunday.

Colin Kaepernick made his first start of the season, and things were just a wee bit different than they were under Blaine Gabbert. Torrey Smith garnered seven targets -- his highest mark since Week 2 -- and Quinton Patton set a season high with seven targets. This means Jeremy Kerley saw less action (though he also saw seven targets), a big deviation from his 30.0% target market share entering Week 6.

Because of Smith's big-play nature, this is obviously an exciting development. However, it's hard to buy into the changes fully until we see them play out over a longer span. For the time being, Smith is worth a speculative add in season-long leagues, and he'll present some DFS viability in matchups like the one they have in Week 7 against a weak Tampa Bay Buccaneers secondary.